Slow economic growth has characterised Mexico’s economic performance for much of the past decade. Taking office in December 2012, the government of Enrique Peña Nieto set out to boost Mexico’s competitiveness with a package of structural reforms affecting a number of sectors, including energy, telecommunications, tax, labour and education. The package’s most eye-catching component was a constitutional reform designed to end decades of state monopoly in the oil and gas sector and attract investment from major international oil companies. Though low oil prices and a degree of nervousness over the potential effects of monetary tightening in the US have dampened initial investor and market enthusiasm over the reforms, the outlook for the Mexican economy remains stable, with demand from the US expected to support Mexican activity, despite low domestic demand and business confidence.

OECD's 2015 Economic Survey of Mexico examines recent economic developments, prospects and policies. Special chapters boosting growth and reducing informality as well as sharing the fruits of growth.

This interdisciplinary edited collection presents original analysis on Mexico's transition from the Millennium to the Sustainable Development Goals, departing from three main perspectives. In what areas did Mexico gain leverage and actually contribute to the debate around the proposed SDGs? What are the challenges for Mexico with regard to the SDGs? How to handle the issue of congruence/dissonance in Mexico's accomplishment of the MDGs in relation to the socioeconomic realities on the ground? The contributing authors examine what kind of state is needed to strengthen democratic politics and social justice, but also to improve the economic effectiveness of the state and thereby prospects for development. For Mexico, what is missing is a clear vision for creating a progressive, truly modern society where the notion of a social contract between the government and citizens could be established along the lines of a welfare state that is inclusive, sustainable, and transformative enough to tackle seriously the fundamental socioeconomic injustices dividing Mexicans.

This volume aims to go beyond the study of developments within Mexico’s criminal world and their relationship with the state and law enforcement. It focuses instead on the nature and consequences of what we call the ‘totalization of the drug war’, and its projection on other domains which are key to understanding the nature of Mexican democracy. The volume brings together chapters written by distinguished scholars from Mexico and elsewhere who deal with three major questions: what are the main features of and forces behind the persistent militarization of the drug war in Mexico, and what are the main consequences for human rights and the rule of law; what are the consequences of these developments on the public sphere and, more specifically, on the functioning of the press and freedom of expression; and how do ordinary people engage with the effects of violence and insecurity within their communities, and which initiatives and practices of ‘justice from below’ do they develop to counter an increased sense of vulnerability, suffering and impunity?

Mexico has embarked on a bold package of structural reform to break free from three decades of slow growth, low productivity, pervasive labour market informality and high income inequality. The package of reforms has already helped to improve confidence and bodes well for 2015 and beyond.To make the most of this impressive package, Mexico will need to improve its governance and institutional capacity to ensure effective implementation. The government elected in 2012 quickly reached a historic agreement among previously divergent political parties on an ambitious consensus-based package of reforms known as the "Pacto por Mâxico", aimed at putting the country back on a path of prosperity. Major structural measures have been legislated to improve competition, education, energy, the financial sector, labour, infrastructure, telecommunications and the tax system, among many, and implementation has started in earnest. If fully implemented, these reforms could increase annual trend per capita GDP growth by as much as one percentage point over the next ten years, with the energy reforms having the most front-loaded effects, and the education reforms more lasting effects in the years to come.

The history of Mexico is spoken in the voice of ordinary people. In rhymed verse and mariachi song, in letters of romance and whispered words in the cantina, the heart and soul of a nation is revealed in all its intimacy and authenticity. Mexico in Verse, edited by Stephen Neufeld and Michael Matthews, examines Mexican history through its poetry and music, the spoken and the written word. Focusing on modern Mexico, from 1840 to the 1980s, this volume examines the cultural venues in which people articulated their understanding of the social, political, and economic change they witnessed taking place during times of tremendous upheaval, such as the Mexican-American War, the Porfiriato, and the Mexican Revolution. The words of diverse peoples—people of the street, of the field, of the cantinas—reveal the development of the modern nation. Neufeld and Matthews have chosen sources so far unexplored by Mexicanist scholars in order to investigate the ways that individuals interpreted—whether resisting or reinforcing—official narratives about formative historical moments. The contributors offer new research that reveals how different social groups interpreted and understood the Mexican experience. The collected essays cover a wide range of topics: military life, railroad accidents, religious upheaval, children’s literature, alcohol consumption, and the 1985 earthquake. Each chapter provides a translated song or poem that encourages readers to participate in the interpretive practice of historical research and cultural scholarship. In this regard, Mexico in Verse serves both as a volume of collected essays and as a classroom-ready primary document reader.

During the Great Depression, a sense of total despair plagued the United States. Americans sought a convenient scapegoat and found it in the Mexican community. Laws forbidding employment of Mexicans were accompanied by the hue and cry to "get rid of the Mexicans!" The hysteria led pandemic repatriation drives and one million Mexicans and their children were illegally shipped to Mexico. Despite their horrific treatment and traumatic experiences, the American born children never gave up hope of returning to the United States. Upon attaining legal age, they badgered their parents to let them return home. Repatriation survivors who came back worked diligently to get their lives back together. Due to their sense of shame, few of them ever told their children about their tragic ordeal. Decade of Betrayal recounts the injustice and suffering endured by the Mexican community during the 1930s. It focuses on the experiences of individuals forced to undergo the tragic ordeal of betrayal, deprivation, and adjustment. This revised edition also addresses the inclusion of the event in the educational curriculum, the issuance of a formal apology, and the question of fiscal remuneration. "Francisco Balderrama and Raymond Rodríguez, the authors of Decade of Betrayal, the first expansive study of Mexican repatriation with perspectives from both sides of the border, claim that 1 million people of Mexican descent were driven from the United States during the 1930s due to raids, scare tactics, deportation, repatriation and public pressure. Of that conservative estimate, approximately 60 percent of those leaving were legal American citizens. Mexicans comprised nearly half of all those deported during the decade, although they made up less than 1 percent of the country's population. 'Americans, reeling from the economic disorientation of the depression, sought a convenient scapegoat' Balderrama and Rodríguez wrote. 'They found it in the Mexican community.'"--American History